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Players: 2 to 6
Time to play: a few minutes per hand
I hadn’t played this specialty card game for a long time, but I remembered
quickly how enjoyable it is as a social card game when I recently played it
again. It’s frustrating if you always want a ton of strategy in a game,
but it’s a good game if you want something you can enjoy but not pay too
much attention to. (I'm one of those people who can enjoy either, depending
on the mood).
The deck consists of cards numbered from 1 to 12. Each player is given a facedown
stack of 20 cards, which they’re not supposed to see except one by one
as they’re gradually used up. The top card in the stack is always turned
face up. The goal is to get rid of these cards by adding to any of four numerically
ordered piles that start at 1, build up to 12, and then are cleared once they
reach the top and start over once someone has a 1 card to play again.
The cards you want to get rid of aren’t the only ones you have to play
with. At the beginning of each turn, the player draws enough to have 5 in their
hand, which you can play with, and at the end of each turn you can discard into
your own four discard piles. You can also play using the top cards in any of
your personal discard piles during the course of your turn.
It may sound a bit complicated, but like I said, it’s easy to learn. It’s
really sort of like solitaire for multiple players—with a few twists.
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